Why is it that whenever there is a fire of the sort that happened in Stephen Court in Kolkata, the authorities discover the illegal structures, lack of fire clearance and things like that? Were the authorities blind to the illegal floors when they came up and continued to flourish all these years? Didn’t the fire department realise that this had happened; that the large areas of the original Court had become little rabbit warrens?
When the Uphaar tragedy occurred, the police discovered that there was encroachment and the fire escapes had been blocked to provide more seating capacity in the cinema. The only time one has read of the authorities taking corrective action before an accident takes place seems to be the Fashion Week which was forced to put off its opening as there was no fire certificate.
Ajay Sharma, Gurgaon
